Perfectionism and Adolescent Athletes’ Burnout: The Serial Mediation of Motivation and Coping Style

Preventing and reducing adolescent athletes' risk of burnout can help promote long-term sports participation, improve performance, and maintain psychological well-being. The present study examined the associations between perfectionism and burnout among Chinese adolescent athletes and the mediating role of motivation and coping styles. A total of 243 Chinese adolescent athletes (78% boys; Mage = 17.8; SD = 2.62) completed the Sport Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale for China, the Situational Motivation Scale, the Coping Scale for Chinese Athletes, and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire to assess perfectionism (strivings and concerns), coping styles (problem-focused and emotion-focused), motivation (intrinsic and amotivation), and burnout. Path analyses indicated that intrinsic motivation and coping styles (problem-focused and emotion-focused) serially mediated the relationship between perfectionistic strivings and burnout. Problem-focused coping mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and burnout. These findings contribute to a model of the effect of perfectionism on adolescent athletes' burnout, provide support for the self-determination theory, and suggest a feasible approach for mitigating burnout in this group.